The
marketplace is cluttered with remixes that play like glorified covers, lazily
pasted-together retreads exhibiting little imagination. That’s not the case
with Guerolito,
the remixed companion-piece to Beck’s latest gem, largely because the rich,
interwoven ingredients in his stylistic melting pot lend themselves so
naturally to such a treatment. That, and the fact that the talent (Air, Beastie
Boys) is A-list. Not that the mix doesn’t have its share of missteps: Islands’
wildly disjointed, slowed-to-a-crawl take on “Que Onda Guero” wipes out all
traces of the original’s funky swagger. But Guerolito is far more than a souvenir for
meticulous collectors, if only for Air’s typically lush reinvention of “Missing”
and Ghost Range’s rollicking, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production of “E-Pro.”